PUTNAM — Downtown Putnam was dressed up in autumn finery on Saturday as hundreds of visitors toured shops, restaurants and outdoor shopping areas as part of the town’s annual fall festival.

The Great Pumpkin Festival, sponsored by the Putnam Business Association and the town, featured a host of seasonal decorations and activities, with mounds of pumpkins and scarecrows peeking from several street corners. Children scampered onto tractors and created chalk drawings on Main Street while adults meandered past tented tables filled with locally made art, jewelry and food.

“It’s one of our biggest days of the year,” said David Sullivan, manager of Sawmill Pottery. “We’re doing a paint-your-own pottery booth on Main Street, and we always see people come back to the shop throughout the day.”

On Saturday morning, Karen Osbrey, a member of the business association’s executive board, stood in the Kennedy Drive parking lot with Mayor Peter Place waiting for a tour bus to bring in passengers from Falmouth, Mass. She said attendance at the festival has grown steadily during the last few years, both in patrons and vendors.

“The idea is they come for the day, eat and shop, and then hopefully come back another day,” Osbrey said.

Place, who showcased several of his 75-pound, home-grown pumpkins outside the Putnam Congregational Church — near a monster-sized, state record-winning gourd that sat atop a trailer — said the day helps foster a sense of community in the region.

“I see this town as a giant neighborhood,” he said. “And today’s like a homecoming for people.”

Michael Marciano watched as his 3-year-old grandson, Logan, played on a tractor while a nearby vendor sold pumpkin soup, pumpkin muffins and rigatoni — again with a dash of pumpkin.

“This is the third year we’ve been coming down,” Marciano said. “It’s good for the kids with lots to do, and there’s some great shopping here. I’ve got tickets for the train ride later. It’s my grandson’s first time on a train.”

At the Riverfront Commons shopping center, children tumbled inside an inflatable bounce house while crafters fashioned ghost lollipops inside the library. Samantha Corey and her sons, Michael, 4, and Abel, 3, were planning to hit the ground running on Saturday. Michael took home an award for the scariest painted pumpkin last year, and he said he was eager to get moving.